Nigerian gunmen attack oil hub, kidnap 3 Italians

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian gunmen in about seven speedboats attacked an Agip oil export terminal in the Niger Delta early on Thursday, kidnapping three Italian workers and killing a local youth, authorities said.
The gunmen tried to storm Agip's Brass terminal, which exports about 200,000 barrels per day, at 5.00 a.m. (0400 GMT) but were repelled after an exchange of fire with soldiers guarding the facility in remote Bayelsa state.
"They did not succeed in entering the terminal but instead they by-passed it and went to a residential facility where they kidnapped three expatriates," said Alfred Ilogho, commander of the armed forces in the region.

An Italian foreign ministry spokesman in Rome said all three hostages were Italians.
A spokesman for Eni, Agip's parent company, said operations at the Brass terminal were not affected.
A Bayelsa state government official said youths from a local community rushed to the scene during the attack and one of them was shot dead by the attackers as they fled through the creeks. Several other youths were injured, the official said.
Kidnappings for ransom are common in the Niger Delta. Hostages are usually released unharmed after money changes hands, although this year one British hostage and one Nigerian were killed during botched attempts by troops to release them.
The world's eighth biggest exporter of crude has been losing more than 500,000 bpd, or about a fifth of its output capacity, since February when militants demanding greater local control of oil wealth staged a series of raids on the industry. Continued...